Our Patrons and Honorary President

KCVO OBE JP

Sir Laurence is a retired academic, spending most of his career at the School of Medicine at Leicester University where he taught physiology. He was appointed to the Rutland Bench in 1979 and held various senior positions within the Magistracy including Chairman of the Central Council of Magistrates’ Courts Committees. In 2003 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland, a position he held until his retirement in 2018. During that time he undertook a number of roles, in particular being the Honorary Air Commodore of 504 Squadron RAuxAF. He is currently a member of the Peterborough Cathedral Development and Preservation Trust and Chairman of the Cathedral Council. He retains a strong interest in the voluntary sector with presidencies of a number of local charities and has recently started to learn the organ, a challenge he describes as incredibly complex. Together with his wife, Chris, they have a small flock of sheep which they lamb each Spring.

Sir Norman Lamb was Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk from 2001 to 2019. After serving as a minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, he was appointed Minister of State for Care and Support at the Department of Health in September 2012 until the end of the Coalition Government in May 2015. As Health Minister, Norman worked to reform the care system and led the drive to integrate health and social care, with a greater focus on preventing ill health. He also challenged the NHS to ensure that mental health was treated with the same priority as physical health, including the introduction of access and waiting standards in mental health for the first time. He was the Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson between 2015 and 2017 and Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee between 2017 and 2019. In March 2019, Norman became Chair of the Advisory Board of Kooth, the longest established digital mental health provider in the UK. In the Queen’s 2019 Birthday Honours, Norman received a knighthood with the citation noting in particular his mental health campaigning, with Norman also establishing a mental health and wellbeing fund in Norfolk after standing down from Parliament in 2019. Norman has more recently taken on the role of Chair of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of the Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition.